Penn State focuses on getting healthy

Associated Press

state college, pa.

Joe Paterno isn’t the only Nittany Lion on the mend at Penn State.

Ravaged by injuries last season, JoePa’s blue-and-white crew hopes a preseason camp that emphasized toughness and conditioning will help get the team through the rigors of the Big Ten season.

“It means physical and mental toughness, playing when you’re bumped up a little bit and you’re hurt,” Paterno said. “There are a lot of things that go into that term ‘toughness.’ And I think that last year I wasn’t demanding enough for us to really come out of that thing feeling that we were a good, tough squad that would play 60 minutes of solid football.”

Paterno, 84, can start at the top if he’s looking for an example.

Major college football’s winningest coach (401 victories) got accidentally bowled over in practice three weeks ago after Devon Smith — a 155-pound receiver — ran full-speed into him. Paterno suffered shoulder and pelvis injuries.

Walking into the Beaver Stadium media room with a crutch, Paterno said Tuesday he was getting better though he pronounced himself “50-50” for being on the sideline for Saturday’s season opener against Indiana State.

Tough-guy Paterno would rather not have to call the shots from the press box.

But enough about Joe.

“Well, I’ll tell you what, we’ve got a lot of guys,” Paterno said, “Their injuries have more of an impact on this football team than this guy sitting up here.”

By midseason alone last year, at least 13 players who would be first- or second-stringers on the depth chart missed time to injuries. Penn State finished 2010 a mediocre 7-6.

The defense took the most hits, and Paterno has called the defensive line’s toughness into question.

The team allowed a mediocre 165 yards on the ground last year, along with a Big Ten-worst 34 scores out of 37 opportunities (91 percent) in the red zone.

“That motivates us a lot. That’s someone challenging your manhood,” defensive end Eric Latimore said Wednesday. “This is probably the toughest camp [we’ll] ever have.

“He definitely pushed us to the limit.”

Other key injured Nittany Lions back on the field include starting safety Nick Sukay (chest); running back Brandon Beachum (right knee); and tight end Andrew Szczerba (back).

Beachum, a Cardinal Mooney High graduate, and Szczerba missed all of 2010 because of their injuries.